COLUMBIA SPY

New stop signs have been installed recently at 9th & Locust, 8th and Locust, and 9th & Ridge Avenue. The signs have flashers on top, as can be seen in the above video, shot today at 9th & Ridge Avenue.

Some pics from around town over the last little while . . .    Above it all  Les Paul  Strat  Coleus colors  Four in a row plus one  Good morning  Invisible web  Cumulus accumulation  Tangle of tape  Busted!  Where there's smoke . . .   Cut In memory of Max This town's for the birds . . .   Vultures  Pigeons Funky Chicken

Still available . . . The Columbia Police Department is raising funds on behalf of the American Cancer Society with a specially designed pink Columbia Police uniform patch.  The patch is designed to promote breast cancer awareness. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and Columbia Police Officers will have the option of wearing the pink patches on their uniform shirts during the month of October. Patches can be purchased by collectors at a cost of $20 per patch. All proceeds raised by the sale of the patches will be donated to the American Cancer Society. To buy a patch, contact Columbia police Officer Austin Miller at 684-7735.

 "The Northwest River Trail Services Building" ??? Good grief! (No wonder we call it the "Visitors' Center.") A vehicle in the garage at 631 South Thirteenth Street

Unfortunately, the star of the show - the albatwitch - didn't appear, but many others did, at the First Annual Albatwitch festival in Columbia on Saturday.  The festival, a joint effort by Rick Fisher of  the Museum of Mysteries , and  Chris Vera, president of the Columbia Historic Preservation Society (CHiPS), continued the weekend's festive events which featured the Fourth Friday "Feet in the Street" the night before.  Saturday's festival included live music, food, and a variety of talks by various speakers at CHiPs headquarters on Second Street. The event also included an apple pie contest (due to the albatwitch's penchant for eating apples).  Deborah Clark took first place in the contest. Free tours of the "dungeon" of the Columbia Market House were also offered. An ET (a "gray") watched the day's proceedings on the 200 block of Locust Street. Museum of Mysteries founder Rick Fisher talked about things paranormal ...

By noon on Saturday, over 50,000 pounds of potatoes were gone - not eaten on the spot, but picked up and shipped out for the needy as part of a cooperative effort between Columbia and Mountville churches.  Ken Sprout of Columbia's United Methodist Church and Doug Warner of Mountville's Saint Paul's Church organized the event, held at Glatfelter's Memorial Field in Columbia. Local volunteers, along with Boy Scout Troop 64, helped out. 200 50-pound bags of potatoes were taken to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank in Harrisburg, and 100 bags went to the Water Street Rescue Mission in Lancaster. Bags also went to food banks in Elizabethtown and Manheim, and to individuals who picked them up for their own use. This is the second year for the endeavor. Last year's was held in Mountville.  The potatoes were grown on eight acres by a Rawlinsville farmer who wished to remain anonymous. Several months ago, he attended a meeting of the Columbia-Mountville United Met...

Columbia borough council began budget discussions last week and, as it has been in past years, spending on the Columbia Borough Police Department was in council's cross hairs. MORE: http:// m.lancasteronline.com / columbia /news/ columbia -considers-police-spending-as-budget-talks-begin/article_91428170-4802-11e4-93e4-001a4bcf6878. html ?mode= jqm

The current issue of Lancaster County Magazine features an article on Columbia, including lots of photos.

Fence posts have appeared recently along the side of the property at 631 South 13th Street, even though the zoning permit pertaining to fence installation specifies the rear of the property. (Unless "rear" means any of the property behind the house.) More information can be found  HERE .

 A poster for a memorial ride for Chad Noll, who passed away last year  A visitor (?) at the visitor's center (Northwest River Trail Services Building) at Columbia River Park on Saturday morning  So that's where the honeybees are - getting hopped up on the caffeine in Mountain Dew. I saw this abandoned soda can at Third and Locust with what I thought were yellow jackets crawling on it, until I looked more closely. These are the first honeybees I've seen in quite a while.   It's only September, and these geese are flying south already. I hope that doesn't mean we're in for a nasty winter. Road construction continues on Ironville Pike.

The "Feet in the Street" event on Fourth Friday in Columbia featured art, dancing, food, music, and other attractions. The event was centered on the 500 block of Locust Street and Locust Street Park and extended to other areas of town.  Dancers dancing  Claire Storm with a mosaic of the bridge burning, created by participants at last year's RiverFest in Wrightsville Music in the gazebo